In psychology, there are several types of social change. We have individual social changes and group social changes.

Individual Social ChangesSocial Mobility- In this situation, people change to fit in with the majority. It usually relates to class or wealth, as sexuality, race and gender are things you cannot change (however a few people do argue that our sexuality is a choice). An example of this could be a poor man working hard to become upper-class and rich, then become part of the majority and forgetting his roots from the poor minority.

Group Social ChangesSocial Creativity- Here, people try to ‘rise above’ social segregation or grouping. This could be someone rising above a majority for religion, sexuality, gender, ethnicity or more… An example of this is a female choosing not to argue with a male based society and simply living with it, ‘being the better person’.

Social Competition- In this situation people challenge the majority and fight against social norm & often involves internalisation. Again, this could be to do with ethnicity, sexuality, gender or more… An example could be Martin Luther King challenging the segregation between black and white people and internalising his own beliefs.

The picture here clearly shows identification as the police officers are showing authsimply and being firm simply because that is their role. It may also link to the evidence showing that uniform has an effect on people’s behaviour and how others are obedient to them.

We can see clear situational factors in obedience here as the man on the floor is responding obediently because in the situation the police officers have legitimate authority over the civilian. Whether or not he is guilty of a crime.